Uber Laws in Tennessee: Driver Rules, Insurance, and Taxes

Uber laws in Tennessee come from a single statewide statute, the Transportation Network Company Services Act, codified at T.C.A. § 65-15-301 through § 65-15-311. It covers driver screening, insurance, consumer protections, and accessibility, and it applies the same way in Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga, and every smaller town in between.

One Set of Rules Statewide

The act declares that transportation network companies are “governed exclusively” by state law.¹ Cities and counties cannot require their own rideshare permits, charge their own licensing fees, or extend taxi ordinances to cover Uber. If someone tells you a Tennessee municipality has its own rideshare rulebook, they’re wrong.

Commercial airports are the one carve-out. The statute lets airports set their own reasonable rules, procedures, and fees for rideshare pickups and drop-offs on airport property.¹ Expect designated zones and sometimes a surcharge when you pick up or drop off at a Tennessee airport terminal.

Who Can Drive

Before anyone accepts rides on an Uber-style platform in Tennessee, the company must run three screenings on the applicant:

A local and national criminal background check using a multistate database with validation.
A search of the national sex offender registry.
A review of the driver’s motor vehicle record.

The screening duty sits on the TNC, though it can hire a third party to perform the checks.²

T.C.A. § 65-15-306 lists the convictions that disqualify an applicant from driving.³ Tennessee follows the pattern common to state TNC laws: convictions for driving under the influence, sexual offenses, fraud, and certain violent crimes within a specified lookback period disqualify an applicant, and terrorism or violent offenses can bring a permanent ban. The driving record check also screens for patterns like reckless driving or operating on a suspended license.

You do not need any special license endorsement. Tennessee law explicitly states that TNC drivers are not classified as chauffeurs and are not subject to commercial driver license requirements.¹ A standard Class D license is enough. The state’s For-Hire (F) endorsement, used by people whose primary job is transporting passengers, does not apply to rideshare drivers.⁴

What the State Does and Does Not Say About Your Car

Tennessee’s TNC act does not include a detailed vehicle inspection statute. It defines a “personal vehicle” as one owned, leased, or authorized for use by the driver that is not a taxi, limousine, or traditional for-hire vehicle.⁵ Beyond that, the vehicle requirements most drivers run into (four doors, a model-year cutoff, working seatbelts, no significant cosmetic damage, a multi-point safety inspection) come from Uber’s and Lyft’s internal policies, not from Tennessee statute. Inspections typically run between $10 and $80 at a participating mechanic, and some markets allow a virtual in-app inspection. Treat these as company rules enforced through the app.

Insurance Depends on What You’re Doing at the Moment

Tennessee’s TNC insurance framework, codified at T.C.A. § 56-7-1119 and cross-referenced in the TNC act, is tiered by driving period.²

App on, no ride accepted yet (Period 1): liability coverage of at least $50,000 per person for bodily injury, $100,000 per incident, and $25,000 for property damage. The coverage can come from the driver’s personal policy, the TNC’s policy, or a combination.
Ride accepted or passenger in the car (Periods 2 and 3): $1,000,000 in combined liability, typically provided by the TNC’s commercial policy.

Period 1 is where drivers get burned. Many personal auto policies exclude any coverage while you’re logged into a rideshare app. Tennessee law requires the TNC to disclose this gap, but it is still your problem to solve. Call your own insurer, ask specifically about TNC use, and buy a rideshare endorsement if one is offered. Driving without that fix means you could be logged in and effectively uninsured.

Collision and comprehensive coverage during an active trip varies by platform and often requires that you already carry those coverages on your personal policy, with a deductible higher than most drivers are used to.⁶ Check your platform’s current coverage documents before you assume you’re covered for damage to your own car.

Rules Every Trip Has to Follow

Every ride has to start digitally. Drivers cannot accept street hails, and all trips must be arranged through the platform’s app or website. Cash payments are banned; the fare must be processed electronically through the app. Those two rules sit in their own sections of the act (§ 65-15-307 and § 65-15-308) and are the hard line between an Uber trip and an illegal taxi.

Before the passenger gets in, the app must display the driver’s photo and the vehicle’s license plate. Before the ride, the platform must give the rider the applicable rate and an estimated fare. After the ride, the platform must send an electronic receipt showing origin and destination, total time and distance, and an itemized breakdown of the charges.²

Tennessee requires a zero-tolerance drug and alcohol policy that covers the driver anytime they are logged into the platform, not only while a passenger is in the car.² The TNC must publish the policy on its website and must have complaint procedures in place under § 65-15-305. A reported violation ordinarily means immediate suspension while the platform investigates.

Nondiscrimination is also mandated by statute. T.C.A. § 65-15-309 requires every TNC to adopt a nondiscrimination policy covering current and prospective passengers and to notify drivers of it. Drivers must comply with applicable anti-discrimination laws and must accommodate service animals. A TNC cannot charge extra to serve a passenger with a physical disability, must give riders the option to request a wheelchair-accessible vehicle, and must direct the rider to an alternative accessible provider when one is available but the platform cannot fulfill the request itself.⁷

You Are an Independent Contractor

The TNC act was written to keep drivers out of employee status. Its definition of a TNC says the company “shall not be deemed to control, direct, or manage the personal vehicles or transportation network company drivers that connect to its digital network, except where agreed to by written contract.”⁵ Section 65-15-302 repeats that a TNC is “not deemed to control or manage” its drivers.¹ Tennessee has also enacted a separate marketplace contractor law that presumes independent-contractor status for workers who find work through apps and websites.

The practical effect: as a Tennessee rideshare driver you are not entitled to minimum wage, overtime, unemployment insurance, or workers’ compensation through the platform. You are running your own business.

Taxes

Tennessee has no state income tax on wages or self-employment earnings, and rideshare driving is not covered by the state’s professional privilege tax, which applies to a narrow list of professions.⁸

Federal taxes still apply in full. As an independent contractor you owe self-employment tax of 15.3% on your net earnings (both the employer and employee shares of Social Security and Medicare), and you must file a federal return if your net self-employment income reaches $400 or more for the year.⁹ Keep records all year of your mileage, phone costs, car washes, and other business expenses. The standard mileage deduction by itself usually reshapes a driver’s tax bill, and losing those records is the costliest rookie mistake.

1
FindLaw. Tennessee Code Title 65 Public Utilities and Carriers 65-15-302
2
Justia Law. Tennessee Code 65-15-304 – Duties of Transportation Network Companies
3
Justia Law. Tennessee Code 65-15-306 – Individuals Prohibited From Acting as Drivers
4
Tennessee Department of Safety & Homeland Security. Regular (Class D) Driver License with (F) For-Hire Endorsement
5
Justia Law. Tennessee Code 65-15-301 – Part Definitions
6
Lyft Help. Insurance Coverage While Driving with Lyft
7
Justia Law. Tennessee Code 65-15-309 – Nondiscrimination Policy
8
Tennessee Department of Revenue. Professional Privilege Tax
9
Internal Revenue Service. Manage Taxes for Your Gig Work